About the Rodeo

The Swamp Safari Shootout Nutria Rodeo was revived by organizer Gabe Macormic in 2021. “We started the Nutria Rodeo to help preserve the coastal wetlands that we love to hunt and fish on a daily basis. The nutria population was getting extremely out of control, and you could see the damage firsthand. It's a really impactful way to do wetland conservation and help fight an invasive species,” said Macormic.

In 2022, 62 teams participated in the rodeo, with 1,934 nutria removed from the Delta.

Many of the nutria captured during the rodeo will be donated to Audubon Zoo, destined to become alligator food.

About the Nutria

Nutria (Myocastor coypus Molina) are semi-aquatic rodents native to South America. They are usually about two feet long, with short legs and a stout body with dark brown fur. Their hind legs are partially webbed, and they are excellent swimmers, able to swim long distances.

They were introduced to the U.S. in the 1880s for fur production. In the first half of the 20th century, after the fur market collapsed, nutria were released into the wild. They can currently be found in 20 states, mainly on the Atlanta coast, in the Pacific Northwest and on the coast of the Gulf of Mexico.

They eat weeds and overabundant vegetation, and they like to live in areas with abundant trees and shrubs and vegetation with underwater roots and surface leaves, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. They build housing but also burrow, and that burrowing causes damage. They destroy banks of ditches, lakes and other bodies of water and cause permanent damage to marshes. And they are destroying native aquatic vegetation, wetlands areas and crops. They like to feed on Louisiana’s seedling bald cypress, endangering the future of those trees.

Nutria can serve as hosts for diseases that affect people and animals, including tuberculosis and septicemia, as well as carry parasites, such as blood flukes, tapeworms, liver flukes and nematodes. They can affect drinking and swimming water.

According to aerial surveys of the Mississippi River Delta taken by the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries, nutria are destroying an estimated 80,000-100,000 acres of marsh annually.

What can be done

Wildlife Services of the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service of the USDA is authorized by Congress to resolve

damage caused by wildlife. According to their April 2020 factsheet on nutria, “A 1997 Executive Order also directs USDA to provide national leadership and oversight in managing invasive species, such as the nutria, in cooperation with other Federal agencies.”

The Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries established the Coastwide Nutria Control Program in 2002. The program’s goal is to suppress the state’s overall population of nutria. Licensed trappers in the state can earn $6 per tail.  

And Gulf Coast sportsmen and ecology-minded residents can participate in the Swamp Safari Shootout Nutria Rodeo to help eradicate this invasive species.

ABOUT WETLANDS LOSS

Louisiana's wetlands comprise 40% of the total wetlands of the continental United States, the largest contiguous wetland system in the lower 48 states. But it’s estimated that 80-90% of wetlands loss occurs in Louisiana. According to researchers, wetlands loss can be defined by five causes: oceanographic, geologic, catastrophic, human activities and biologic (including nutria).

One report says that, by  2040, Louisiana will have lost more than a million acres of coastal wetlands (larger than the state of Rhode Island). At the current rate of loss, Louisiana will completely lose its wetlands in the next 200 years. Continued erosion inland will have a huge effect on major cities, which will be exposed to open marine forces from the Gulf of Mexico.

One estimate says that the value of coastal wetlands in the state is between $86,040-$143,400 per acre per year. As 2003 study said coastal erosion will have severe impacts in four areas: oil and natural gas production; transportation and navigation; commercial fishing; recreational activities. In less than 20 years, commercial and recreational fisheries harvest could decline by 30%, risking nearly 50,000 jobs directly related to fishing, processing and wholesaling activities. Oil and gas production and supply to the nation will be severely impacted as erosion continues. Highways and rail systems will be lost. Costs of channel and river maintenance will increase.

And the strain will be felt far beyond Louisiana.